FaZe defeat Astralis 2-0; to IEM Katowice grand finals

Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's hat-trick on the B site defense of Cache started FaZe's semi-final on the right foot, as they went on to grab a 3-0 lead against Astralis. The Danish team didn't falter, though, and started establishing themselves from the first buy round onwards. Firstly, they dealt with FaZe's double AWP setup, which put the European mixture in a tough economic situation, and then Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander and co. rolled on to a 6-3 lead.

Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz was getting key AWP picks during that six round run and FaZe only managed to stop the bleeding when they went aggressive with pistols. Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard got three kills pushing mid and started a series of rounds going FaZe's way. After some early struggles, Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač rose to the occasion towards the end of the half, setting his team up for a 9-6 CT half with a triple from the A site boost position.

Faking the A site proved to be a good call for FaZe on the pistol, allowing them to walk into B for free and eventually win the post-plant. They were set to close out their map pick easily after that, but a blunder against an armorless pistol buy allowed Astralis a way back into the game. The score got to 13-9, but Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács secured key kills with the AWP in the last couple of rounds to edge out the map 16-10 for FaZe.

karrigan led FaZe to another victory over his former team

FaZe added another pistol round win after kicking off Overpass, Astralis' map pick, and started 3-0 up. The first buy featured early trade kills on A long, with the round finishing favorably for Astralis. A similar start repeated in the following round too, but this time karrigan's quad kill in bathrooms swayed things the way of FaZe and broke the Danish team's bank.

Astralis struggled to crack the defenses for a while after that, as FaZe was catching them off guard with flanks, round after round. rain secured a key 3k that made the score 7-1, and they extended the lead to 9-1 before Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif opened up B with a double to get his side their second on the board. gla1ve's squad started rolling after that, with device topping the board for his side as he fragged with both the AWP and the AK-47.

The Danish team managed to recover the half with five consecutive rounds at the end, finishing it 9-6 down, and soon tied it at 9-9 thanks to winning the first pistol round and the followups. Both teams were on limited buys for the next few rounds and wins were traded back and forth, every round coming down to the wire. However, rain's play in an after plant situation on A broke Astralis and was key in FaZe getting a 13-10 lead.

In a key round, Magisk got the entry and gla1ve got two kills on the A site defense, but rain and NiKo still managed to recover the round that got them touching distance from victory on Overpass. In the final round of the game, GuardiaN walked into the B site and entried with the AWP, with the rest of the team following up to secure the round and the game, 16-10.

IEM Katowice 2018Best of 3

Astralis

Matchpage

0

2

3rd March 2018

FaZe

10

Cache

16

10

Overpass

16

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossandergla1ve	36 - 34	+2	72.1	63.5%	1.01
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	37 - 42	-5	66.6	69.2%	0.97
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	29 - 42	-13	73.2	71.2%	0.87
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	26 - 40	-14	61.3	59.6%	0.72
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	26 - 43	-17	59.3	55.8%	0.68

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	46 - 28	+18	92.9	80.8%	1.44
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsGuardiaN	41 - 27	+14	76.6	84.6%	1.33
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	40 - 35	+5	90.4	78.8%	1.29
Finn 'karrigan' Andersenkarrigan	40 - 33	+7	80.5	76.9%	1.14
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjerolofmeister	34 - 31	+3	75.3	76.9%	1.13